COMMENT There is an old adage, “winning a battle but losing the war”.

American business magnate, investor, television personality and author Donald Trump puts it in a different way.

“Sometimes by losing a battle you find a new way to win the war,” he writes. In short, I agree with Trump that it is better to lose a small battle than to lose the entire war.

When I think of it in the context of a church in Taman Medan, Petaling Jaya, whose leaders were more than amicable and willing to remove a cross affixed to its building after a group of some 50 people demonstrated in front of the church.

To the Christian community, whether the cross is displayed or not makes no difference, but the message of the cross - Jesus’ death for the redemption of all mankind - is what matters the most.

In some evangelical churches, the cross is not even displayed at all but the message of the cross is nonetheless being preached faithfully. Christians believe that Christ crucified may be folly to mankind, but it is God’s power for salvation to mankind since Adam.

Improper

However, because the church has been using the cross as its symbol for nearly 2000 years, it is simply improper for a small group of demonstrators in Taman Medan to force the symbol of another religion to be removed under the pretext that it “challenges Islam”.

Such an act deserves the severest condemnation by every Malaysian with a sound mind and from all walks of life. This is no longer a question of religion, but as pointed out by someone, it has become the politically motivated form of intimidation against minorities’ religions.

This is clearly disrespecting the federal constitution, which upholds the position of Islam, while at the same time, under Article 11, provides that “every person has the right to profess and to practice his or her religion and to propagate it”. Putting a cross on a church building does not contravene the spirit of the federal constitution.

If Malaysians, including our Muslim friends, do not do anything against such extremism, these people will become bolder and use religion to oppress the minority. It clearly shows that Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak has lost control of the people within his own party.

Such incidents are not new. It has happened in the aftermath of the political tsunami in 2008, when a group of men from Shah Alam paraded at the gate of the Selangor state government office with a cow’s head - the cow being the Hindus’ sacred animal.

Although the then-home minister Hishammuddin Hussein had protected the demonstrators and alleging that there were also PAS members in their midst, till today, Hishammuddin has not released the names of the PAS members despite being challenged to do so by the Shah Alam MP, Khalid Samad from PAS.

Why again Umno-linked?

It raises a number of questions that Najib would now have to answer as well, because as Umno president and the prime minister of the country, Najib is partly to be blamed for doing nothing about the rise of religious extremism in this country played up by groups that are linked either directly or indirectly to Umno.

According to sources, one of the people involved in the demonstration was none other than Munaliza Hamzah, the Barisan Nasional candidate who lost to Parti Keadilan Rakyat’s (PKR) Haniza Mohamed Talha in the last general election by a margin of 4,433 votes.

Besides verbally attacking the church, Munaliza is seen holding up a placard which read, ‘Is the state assemblypeson sleeping?’

It is hard not to believe that the demonstration was in fact politically motivated. Based on the results from the last general election, it is obvious that Taman Medan voting station has given PKR the additional boost to help it bag another parliamentary seat.

Hee Loy Sian from PKR won the Petaling Jaya Selatan (PJS) by a majority of 5,706 votes. A significant number of the votes would have been contributed by Taman Medan’s voters swing to PKR.

My point is: If 70 percent majority of the population of Taman Medan are Muslims, it clearly shows that the Umno candidate did not manage to win the heart of the Muslims.

What’s more, I wonder if playing up religious sensitivities of the people while attacking the state assemblyperson would gain her any political mileage or would it attract more condemnation from every quarter?

I have mentioned time and again that political parties should avoid playing on religious or racial sensitivities in order to win votes. It can only backfire, as we have seen in the past few episodes. It has led to even a very strong condemnation from the present Sarawak Chief Minister, Adenan Satem ( left ).

In a video clip that has gone viral, Adenan has openly condemned Umno in West Malaysia for calling the Chinese ‘pendatang’.

Question for Sarawak

The question is now asked of Adenan, whether he and his party would abandon a coalition as the BN, whose major component party Umno does not share his vision of an equitable society in Sarawak.

Such an incident which happened in Taman Medan would have reached his ears. Does he take it seriously or does he not? Would he flip flop in his policy just to gain some political mileage or is he serious with his open condemnation made against Umno during a recent speech in Sarawak?

With the Sarawak station election round the corner, this is an important issue that Adenan should speak up as well against such intimidation done by members of a political party that helms the BN. Adenan cannot deny that the BN coalition is still being led by Umno.

In the eyes of many, a vote for Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu (PBB) is undeniably still a vote for Umno and the BN unless Adenan is willing to take the path of Parti Bansa Dayak Sarawak (PBDS) by steering his own party out of the BN fold at the federal level, yet remain in the ruling party at state level.

This proposition may sound illogical, but it is probably the best way for Adenan to show that his condemnation of Umno recently is genuine and sincere.

Umno’s position

Finally, we are asking, “What is Umno’s position?”

Will it now haul up Munaliza to be reprimanded or would it remain quiet?

Or, would Umno continue to protect its own members amidst public outcry? Or, does Umno not have a bigger obligation to protect the constitutional rights of the other communities apart from the Muslims in this country?

It will be interesting to watch the development after this episode to see how Umno reacts to the urging to discipline, or even to the point of sacking its own members in order to protect its own image?

Meanwhile, for the church leaders, it is fine to lose a small battle, but the people are with you in the war against the rise of extremism in Malaysia.

STEPHEN NG is an ordinary citizen with an avid interest in following political developments in the country since 2008.